News

Delays to BEAD forced a Louisiana broadband construction firm to layoff 80% of subcontractors, according to the organisation’s co-owner

This article was originally published by Brad Randall, Editor of our sister publication, Broadband Communities

A broadband construction firm in rural Louisiana has been forced into layoffs due to BEAD delays, according to Josh Etheridge, the co-owner of EPC.

Etheridge, who founded EPC with his brother eight years ago, is the latest Louisiana business leader to sound the alarm on delays to BEAD, the nation’s massive $42.45 billion effort to deploy broadband to all Americans.

In a new letter, addressed to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Etheridge said EPC was ready to put boots on the ground to begin BEAD deployments on January 25.

Read Etheridge’s letter to Lutnick here

“But now? The market is frozen,” Etheridge wrote. “I’ve had to release 80% of our subcontractors. We’ve paused philanthropic giving, scaled back our chamber memberships, and sadly begun to make layoffs of our full-time employees.”

Since it was founded, EPC has grown to include more than 160 full time employees, Etheridge wrote. Additionally, he said the company had built a network of more than 150 subcontractors.

Now, Etheridge says even North Louisiana-based EPC’s at-risk capital builds are “pulling back.”

“We were poised for 300% growth,” he wrote. “We prepared accordingly. And now—we wait.”

Etheridge’s letter, given to Broadband Communities on Monday, calls on the administration not to let “bureaucracy unravel everything we’ve built.”

“If this continues, you will have effectively weaponized a great ambition—meant to lift up and transform rural America—against the very people who believe in this administration,” his letter continued. “We supported our newly elected leaders— with our money, our words, and our votes — believing you would support us in return.”

‘And now? We hear nothing’

Louisiana has been highly impacted by an ongoing review to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program called by Lutnick.

In 2024, Louisiana notably became the first to award BEAD funds through a state program called GUMBO 2.0 (Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities).

It was also the first state to gain approval for their initial BEAD proposal.

Now, Etheridge’s letter to Lutnick is the latest from a Louisiana executive that warns about dire impacts from Lutnick’s BEAD delay.

With the letter, Etheridge now joins the CEO of Louisiana-based SkyRider Communications and David Herring, the founder and CEO of ClearPath Fiber, as the latest company leaders sounding the alarm.

According to Etheridge, if the silence continues “it will say what no words ever could.”

“That we were never truly understood, that our sacrifice was never truly valued, and that our votes and voices mattered only when it was time to count them — not when it came time to honor them,” he wrote.

Like Herring’s letter last week, Etheridge stresses that Louisiana “did it right.”

He said his company “followed the rules and “ran a clean process.”

“No DEI mandates. Forty percent under budget. Tech-neutral. No labor strings,” he said.

Etheridge’s letter to Lutnick ends with the EPC co-founder telling Lutnick that “it’s not too late.”

He calls on Lutnick to “let Louisiana move forward.”

“Let EPC build. Let our people work,” he wrote. “Don’t let another generation lose faith in the promises we were raised to believe in. We are still ready. We are still willing.”

Get content like this delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter.

Learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2025 in Houston.